Bertie Ahern and Martin Nicholson, a Roscommon man, had never set eyes on each other before last night, but Ahern grew up with Tommy Cooke on the Northside of Dublin, and Nicholson's wife is related to Tommy Cooke, and that's all you need to know.

This is how the Irish do business.

The Democrats and the Republicans have been fighting over the Eire Pub in Dorchester, Massachusetts, for as long as anyone can remember. Ronald Reagan went there as president and declared it red territory. Bill Clinton went there as president and declared it blue territory.

Bertie Ahern is Ireland's longest serving leader. He is stepping down on Tuesday after 11 years at the helm, and this is his victory lap. On Wednesday, he spoke before a joint session of Congress, becoming only the fourth statesman in history to have addressed both Congress and the House of Commons in London. On Thursday, he spoke at Harvard and hobnobbed with the great and the good at the Boston College Club downtown.

An error has occurred. Please try again later.

You are already subscribed to this email.

It was at the BC club that a fellow Dub, Aidan Browne, stepped up and whispered a little treason. Browne, a fellow Northsider who is now a lawyer with the Boston firm of Sullivan & Worcester, suggested Ahern visit a pub where he'd find some real Irish.

Larry McCann, an Antrim man, stepped forward and presented Ahern with a hurling jersey from a fledgling Gaelic Athletic Association youth club called St. Brendan's. The shirt was the dark blue of Tipperary, not the light blue of Bertie's beloved Dubs. But he accepted it with good grace and wished the new youth club well.

John Stenson, the owner of the Eire, was watching it all from the sidelines, as he is wont to do. But he did come forth just long enough to assure Ahern that there would be one more plaque going up next to the ones commemorating the visits by Reagan and Clinton.

When Reagan came to the Eire, he took the pint of Ballantine that Martin Nicholson poured him and held it aloft for the photographers and put it down and left it there without so much as a sip. It was a photo prop.

When he was running for president, Bill Clinton went to the Eire, took the pint of Guinness that Martin Nicholson poured, held it aloft for the photographers, and put it down and left it there without so much as a sip. It was a photo prop.